Girl choked to death on piece of jelly at nursery

Tiya Chauhan died after choking on a cube of jelly at a nursery in Wimbledon,
south London

Tiya Chauhan, who was 22 months old, was described as 'loved by everyone’ (National Pictures)

By Agencies

7:25AM BST 08 Jul 2014

A one-year-old died after choking on jelly at a nursery where children were allowed to roam around freely, an inquest heard yesterday.

Tiya Chauhan, who was 22 months old, died after nursery staff found her lying unconscious in an activity area.

Her father, Chetan, 37, told an inquest that he and his wife, Dipa, who works for the Ministry of Defence, had considered moving their daughter to another nursery after she was twice bitten on the face.

Mr Chauhanan, an IT consultant, said Tiya was “smiling and quite happy” when he dropped her off at Dicky Birds Nursery in Wimbledon, south London, on Aug 23, 2012.

After the children were given breakfast, staff at the nursery began “free flow”, where the toddlers were able to roam around between three rooms.

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Just after 9.30am, Tiya was found lying unconscious. Staff called an ambulance and paramedics found a raw jelly cube in her airway. She died the following day at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, the inquest heard.

Mr Chauhan said that he had not been made fully aware that the “free flow” policy had been introduced.

When asked by Fiona Wilcox, the Westminster coroner, how the parents were kept informed about “free flow”, he said: “Not very often — I think there was a newsletter sent out.

“I assumed that she was in a room and they had a staff ratio of three-to-one and that is how they were being looked after in that room.”

Mr Chauhan added that he and his wife were concerned about the nursery after Tiya was twice bitten on the face by another child.

He said: “When I collected Tiya from nursery she had got bitten quite badly by another child. You could see the bite marks on the cheek and it was red. My wife was upset about it.

"I think my wife rang in and got an explanation and stuff — no reports or anything like that.”

The nursery was recommended to the couple by a neighbour and Tiya joined in October 2011. Mr Chauhan said: “My wife was comfortable, we were comfortable with the management.

"There was a queue for people getting into the nursery. When a spot became available we took it.”

Mr Chauhan told the inquest that Tiya was able to chew and bite, but was not given sweets or jelly at home and was not a fussy eater.

He added said: “She was loud, she was only 22 months, she was forming her personality.

“She would pull her brother off toys, push him away. She was bubbly, she was loved by everyone.

“If she ever saw someone she would go up to anybody, she wasn’t afraid of anybody. She loved to get out.”

Sgt Gary Pankhurst, who investigated Tiya’s death, said: “On the morning the incident happened there were 11 members of staff working at the nursery and there were 30 children ranging up to around four years old. The rooms are opened up and that allows the children of different groups to intermingle.”

He added: “Paramedics found a jelly-like substance which was removed from Tiya’s airway.”